What makes Japanese food in LA special?

13 posts were split to a new topic: Japanese Food Shows

Hi @robert,

Yah, actually it’s pretty close to that experience - Torihei has a really expansive Oden menu. You can sit at the counter and just check off the specialized Oden you want and see the Oden chef cooking up the order in the various compartmentalized cooking apparatus. The only thin you’re missing is it being totally Oden Only.

At Shoya, it’s so familial / informal that you can sit at the counter and literally just call out what you want (just like at an Oden stand), and Natsuko Takahashi-san will just smile and cook it right up, just like the experience you saw in that episode. It just doesn’t have as extensive a menu as Torihei, but it’s adequate enough.

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https://www.jflalc.org/ac-festival

That sounds great.

I’m thinking I need to plan a trip to Torrance one of these days.

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I loved that show, Samurai Gourmet. Hoping there’s a second season coming.
Maybe there are more oden lovers than I thought in LA. We do have udon specialists, soba specialists, tonkatsu, yakitori, shabu shabu, manju, okonomiyaki, curry rice, takoyaki, etc.
Maybe we need a Japanese food mall like Yataimura at Ala Moana in Honolulu.

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It’s gone, now replaced by the Shirokiya “Japan Village Walk,” which is eh. I’ve been several times and a couple times I walked away getting nothing. I’m sure there’s some decent food there; I just get sensory overload and walk out usually. There’s the new Waikiki Yokocho and new Japanese places popping up all the time.

I’ll report back from Honolulu in a week or two. They have some legitimately quite good Japanese food - not the breadth or depth of LA necessarily, but some good finds. They had a legitimate Oden specialist, but it closed last year.

I’ll report in its own thread.

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…and Gardena, don’t forget Gardena.

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I bought the magazine yesterday. First time in five years I’ve bought a magazine. I had forgotten how great they are (even the ads are great).

Great issue! Very nifty and interesting breakdown of what the city has to offer to Japanese food aficionados.

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Planning on eating at Yakitori Ya this weekend, any standout items on the menu I should be ordering?

BRING:
Patience - it is slow to get your order in and get served, but, IMHO, well worth the wait

ORDER:
The yakitori is obvious and great, but here are non-yakitori items I love
Chicken Breast “Chips”
Soboro Don
Duck Ravioli
Onigiri with Miso/Chicken Paste (OMG!!!)
Deep fried soft bone
Zousui

ENJOY!

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thank you @ciaobob!

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Went to Yakitoriya and had great meal there! HIghlights were the Zosui, the Soboro Don, and the Chicken Breast chips, had to reorder another one since we liked it so much. Pacing was a little slow but was fine and we were able to talk within ourselves a little bit more. Nice couple running the place, i can imagine it getting really hectic for them on a crazy busy night.

I would definitely go backand i am already thinking about the next time i go.

Oh, and the yakitori skewers are always a must have. Eggplant with chicken was really good.

thanks for the recommendations from the board and to @CiaoBob

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Glad you enjoyed. Certainly one of my favorite places to eat in LA.

here’s an old link to my post on the “Special Order” Duck Shabu Shabu they can do.

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Oh, that soboro rice looks wonderful. How big was the portion?

OH it was delicious! i would go back and just have that if it was possible. That was the small, I believe they have 3 sizes, so portions would not be a problem there were 4 of us and we shared this and the Zosui to end our meal.

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anyone know if the ramen at Yakitoriya is good? we were too full to order it this past weekend.

Never had it. Been tempted, but everything else tempts me more. It seems a little weird to me, but I think of ramen as lunch-only food. I never want it for dinner.

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I think the fact that there is a fish market that flies fish in overnight from Tsukiji is essential to any claim that LA has "special"Japanese food.

Some sushi bars in the SF Bay Area eliminate the middleman and have buyers in Japan overnight stuff.